[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 37 (Tuesday, February 25, 2025)]
[House]
[Pages H773-H774]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
DEPARTMENT OF GOVERNMENT INEFFICIENCY
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from
Pennsylvania (Ms. Scanlon) for 5 minutes.
Ms. SCANLON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak about the White
House's pet project, the department of government inefficiency,
otherwise known as DOGI.
For the past month, our Federal workers and agencies have been
assaulted by a dilettante billionaire empowered by President Trump to
muck about in Americans' lives and Federal agencies.
Americans are justifiably concerned that these unelected intruders
are acting as judge and jury on people's lives and livelihoods as they
gleefully and illegally feed tens of thousands of jobs and vital
programs into a woodchipper.
This billionaire and his tech bros claim to have found billions in
fraud, waste, and inefficiency, but their methods and results are
shrouded in secrecy. When they hype their claim on Twitter or the White
House press room, independent review has shown that their claims are
false or riddled with errors.
Buying condoms for Gaza?
It didn't happen.
Social Security payments to people who are 150 years old?
Nope.
Mr. Speaker, $800 billion in savings on one contract?
Oops. Maybe $800 million, they are not really sure.
Absolutely nothing adds up.
These DOGI efforts have introduced fraud, waste, and inefficiency
into every agency they have touched with their invasions, freezes, and
suspensions.
Federal workers have been fired then rehired as their functions were
quickly proven to be indispensable rather than nonessential. Employees
have been bombarded with weird emails that threaten them with
termination if they don't accept a sketchy buyout or snitch on their
colleagues and with demands that they interrupt their real work to do
make-work for review by people who have no understanding or interest in
public service or government functions.
Elon Musk's DOGI efforts are disrupting critical medical research and
treatments, foreign aid, veterans' care, criminal investigations, and
health, housing and human services across the Nation and beyond.
It takes a remarkable combination of arrogance and stupidity to think
that this is the best use of time for our intelligence officers, VA
workers, air
[[Page H774]]
traffic controllers, FBI agents, and everyone else upon whom our Nation
depends to do their jobs well.
If this is what bringing business acumen to government function looks
like, then it is pretty clear we need to prevent our government from
becoming a dumpster fire like X or one of Trump's corrupt corporations.
We can't afford it, and the American people can't afford it.
Mr. Speaker, it is well past time that Congress removed Mr. Musk and
his DOGI minions from our government and get down to doing the peoples'
business.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Members are reminded to refrain from
engaging in personalities toward the President.
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